History of Wikipedia

Culture Infograph Quiz-ito

What is an infographic?

I am admittedly, a little obsessed with data visualization. Making information visually appealing, making it BEAUTIFUL. According to Wikipedia, "Today information graphics surround us in the media, in published works both pedestrian and scientific, in road signs and manuals. They illustrate information that would be unwieldy in text form, and act as a visual shorthand for everyday concepts such as stop and go."

You may find yourself saying "huh?!" But what this means is that we can learn, and study information and data in a fun and visual way. We can make our information diagrams into works of art. We can create projects, presentations and ways that show that we have learned that are amazingly complex, detailed and actually beautiful.  We can take information that might otherwise be overwhelming and in some cases difficult to understand and make it easy to read, understand and learn from.

What does this have to do with my Culture Quiz-ito?!
Well...we created a very, very basic information graphic in class last week when we made our Culture Web. For the quiz-ito you can recreate that web from memory, or choose to show that you know that information by showcasing it in another way. To get started, you may want to look at the Periodic Table of Visualization (just mouse over the "elements" to see some of the many ways people visualize data). Remember...you can choose any visualization method that you want but there are some that are better suited for this job than others for example: cluster/web, tree, treemap, cone tree, data-flow, mind map...and more! Need more ideas? Click Here

Ok, I can do this. BUT, I lost/can't find/would like to see the original Culture Web again?
Here it is(remember, some social scientists agree to 4 elements, some to 6 and others 8, also the branches overlap and may include things not listed below):

Elements of culture web

view as full screen to see all elements clearly.

This Week in Core: Book Box, Culture, and Spelling...OH MY!

This week's spelling words

  please, dreary, easel, certainly, field, believe, brief, opportunity, necessary, definitely

Book Box Project 

The book box project is due tomorrow (Tuesday!). Students need to have 10 items in a box or bag that represent a main character in the book that they just read.  Each item will be used to tell the story to the class in speech form. Notes are not allowed, but the planning sheet can be on the podium during the speech.

Create a Culture Project

This project is due on Wednesday.  At this point, the project is due as students walk in the door, behavior however, can have this deadline moved to the end of the period (so, let's see that awesome quiet work time!)

Culture "Quiz-ito" 

The culture quiz is Wednesday (if time permits, if not, we'll move it to Thursday). For the quiz-ito (baby quiz) students will need to have studied their culture diagram (keep an eye on the blog for an example later today. The diagram will need to be replicated by memory in a way that makes sense to the student, for example if they'd rather diagram the elements on a tree they can...doesn't have to be traditional web...any information graphic will work).

CE Assignment #1

 For your CE assignment, you will need to have an article (not a tv program or video) but if you are looking for a way to get started, you can watch student news and get an idea...then look for an article on one of topics you saw. If you need a great sight for actual articles, check out the links below

Want 5 points extra credit? Do your CE assignment online using this form:

CE Form 

CE Links

CNN
C-SPAN
White House Press Release/Weekly Radio Broadcast
NPR
MSNBC
CBS
ABC
Fox News
C-SPAN in the Classroom
Associated Press
KOIN TV
KATU
Oregonian
BBC
Bloomberg Business News

Time for Kids

CNN Student News

The Week in Rap

Scholastic News Zone

Wall Street Journal Classroom

Jan 14th - The Week in Rap from Week in Rap on Vimeo.

Do you love science?

check this out:

Enter the Google Science Fair by clicking HERE

Spelling: Jan 10-14

Required: hoard, sore, hundred, locate, voyage, discourage, engine, board, cottage, oatmeal

Challenge: Massachusetts, extracurricular, approximately

Test on Friday!

Snoooooow

This video has been out just over a week, many of you have perhaps seen it. It's from New Jersey, it shows the amount of snow that piled up...36 inches! (thanks Mrs. Shafer for sharing) BLIZZARD!

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

2000 vs 2010

In 2000, I graduated from high school.  It's amazing to see how much has changed in the world in just 10 years. Below is a quick infographic that highlights some of the things that have changed.

Happy New Year!

I hope that you are enjoying your last few days of vacation. I can't believe that it is time to go back to school already, seems we just had that amazing band/choir/strings concert and are heading on our way to the holidays. Not so. We have many things to look forward to in the new year, and I can't wait to see you on Tuesday and get started!